Zarif, Ashton meet after nuclear talks in Geneva

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton have met in Geneva to exchange views at the end of the first day of negotiations between Iran and the six major world powers.
During the Tuesday evening meeting, the two officials reviewed the issues brought up in the two rounds of talks between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council - the United States, China, Russia, France and the United Kingdom - plus Germany earlier in the day, and technically discussed the details.
Iran and the six world powers held two rounds of talks on Tuesday. The first round was held in the morning, attended by Zarif and Ashton.
During the closed-door meeting in the morning, Zarif presented Iran’s proposal titled "Closing an Unnecessary Crisis, and Opening a New Horizon" to Ashton and the representatives of the six countries.
The two sides discussed the broad lines of Iran’s proposal. The details of the proposed Iranian package will not be revealed before the talks wraps up on October 16.
The US, Israel, and some of their allies have repeatedly accused Iran of pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program.
Iran rejects the allegations, arguing that as a committed signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it has the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
In addition, the IAEA has conducted numerous inspections of Iran’s nuclear facilities but has never found any evidence showing that Iran’s civilian nuclear program has been diverted to nuclear weapons production.
MP/KA